The invention relates to identification systems and to a system to assist in tracking meat from production to packaging. In particular, it relates to a carrier identification device.
A greater awareness of health issues has led to an increasing demand from consumers for reassurance about the quality of food-stuffs. Recent problems with the so called xe2x80x98mad cow diseasexe2x80x99 has intensified the public demand for an effective method to track meat from production on the farm to packaging and sale to the consumer.
At present, systems exist to track animals on the farm. The most effective systems are those that employ electronic identification. For example, Australian patent number 665713 describes a transponder and housing designed to be resident in the rumen of an animal. International application number PCT/AU96/00693 describes a transponder and housing for attachment to the ear of an animal.
These known systems provide a means of tracking throughout the life of an animal. In combination with computer-based data processing software the complete details of the life of an animal can be logged. The type of information collected includes the age of the animal, feeding history, location, owners, weight tracking etc.
Transponders are particularly well-suited to the electronic identification of animals since they are passive devices that are read actively, they require no internal power supply and are able to hold sufficient information to uniquely identify a single animal amongst several million animals.
Typically, the transponder is removed from the animal before or during slaughtering. This means that continued tracking of the animal can be lost. As mentioned above, it is desirable to continue to track the fate of an animal until processing is complete and the produce has reached the end user. To achieve this aim it is necessary to continue to uniquely identify the animal, or components of the animal, during downstream processing.
Attempts have been made to achieve this goal but they have been uniformly unsuccessful. For example, in one approach all carriers, such as meat hooks, in a meat processing plant are numbered. As an animal is slaughtered and the carcass hung on a hook, the number of the hook is recorded against the number of the animal. At the end of processing, the final packaging is bar coded and a matching of the bar code to the hook number, and hence the animal number, is made.
This approach has proven to be unreliable for a number of reasons. Firstly, a single carcass may be divided into a number of parts requiring several hook numbers to be recorded for a single animal. This can cause confusion and subsequent incorrect tracking.
Secondly, a meat processing plant is a harsh environment. Numbers recorded on a meat hook have been found to wear off relatively quickly. It has been found necessary to interpolate between numbered hooks to identify the number of a hook that is no longer readable. It will be appreciated that if a hook is removed for some reason the integrity of the identification can be seriously compromised.
The harsh environment also impacts on the materials used. In particular, meat hooks in a meat works experience severe thermal cycling which results in repeated contraction and expansion of the meat hook. This can cause problems with attachment of the carrier identification device to the carrier.
Some of these problems have been addressed by Knosby in U.S. Pat. No. 4,597,495 by applying bar codes to each meat hook. However, the harshness of the meat processing environment soon leads to damage of the bar code region thereby rendering the bar code unreadable. Furthermore, a clear and direct line of sight is required to read a bar code. This is difficult to maintain in a meat processing facility due to blood and meat fragments covering equipment and the difficulty of locating a bar code reader in a suitable position. The Knosby system fails to overcome the problems.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and means for tracking individual animals through stages of processing. It is a further object to provide a reliable means of uniquely identifying carriers in a food processing environment.
Further objects will be evident from the following description.
In one form, although it need not be the only or indeed the broadest form, the invention resides a carrier identification device for a food processing environment including:
a housing firmly mounted to the carrier in a hole formed in the arm of the carrier; wherein said housing is wholly contained within said hole; and
a transponder mounted in the housing, said transponder containing an identifying code.
The housing is preferably pressed into the hole with an interference fit.
A pin may optionally be used to secure the housing in the space.
In preference the transponder contains a unique identifying code.
The housing is preferably formed from food grade material and is heat and acid resistant.
The housing is suitably formed from plastics material and in preference, ultra high molecular weight polyethylene material.
The inventor has found that a cylindrical housing is most suitable.
The transponder is mounted in a cylindrical cavity drilled perpendicular to an axis of the housing. A silicon potting mix can be used to hold the transponder in position.
In preference, the transponder is positioned such that an antenna of the transponder is aligned with an outer face of the housing.
In a further form, the invention resides in a carrier identification device for identifying a meat hook in a meat processing plant, said meat hook being of the form having a body shaped at an upper end to have an xe2x80x9cHxe2x80x9d section holding a bush;
characterized by a housing firmly mounted to the body in a hole formed in the meat hook, wherein said housing is wholly contained within said hole; and a transponder mounted in the housing, said transponder containing an identifying code.
The hole is preferably formed in an arm of the xe2x80x98Hxe2x80x99 section of the meat hook.
Suitably, the housing is press fitted in the hole with interference fit.
The housing is preferably mounted wholly within the hole so that no part of the housing extends beyond an edge of the body.
In a still further form, the invention resides in a carrier identification device for identifying a meat hook in a meat processing plant, said meat hook being of the form having a body curved at an upper end to define a space between a return portion and a main portion with a wheel mounted between the return and main portion; characterized by a housing firmly mounted in a hole formed in the body or in said space, wherein said housing is wholly contained within said hole; and a transponder mounted in the housing, said transponder containing an identifying code.
Suitably, the housing is mounted in the space utilizing one or more pins inserted through aligned holes in the return portion and the main portion so as to clamp the housing against the upper end of the body of the meat hook.
The hole is preferably formed in the main portion. The housing is preferably mounted wholly within the hole or space so that no part of the housing extends beyond an edge of the body.
In preference, the transponder is removably mounted in the housing and the housing is removably mounted to the body.